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Google’s a marvelous company whose astonishing success sometimes makes it hard to fathom that it is only 13 years old. But like all precocious teenagers, Google is finding that the process of growing up isn’t just about getting bigger—it’s about getting smarter.

And one smart thing Google should do right now is formally and permanently drop its “Do No Evil” mantra.

Because behavior that’s cute in a little kid can, in a grown-up, be cloying at best and disingenuous or even dishonest at worst.

I’m not about to trot out a laundry list of all the trouble or near-trouble that Google has gotten itself into in the past five or so years, but we’ve all seen more than a little evidence over that time that Google’s interpretation of what is meant by privacy often clashes severely with that of mere mortals.

To Google’s credit, it has retrenched quickly from its invasive forays, done the mea culpa thing, and promised to sin no more. But I have to ask:

Before the fact, where was the “Do No Evil” thing? Why didn’t their slogan protect them from their baser instincts? How could a company that says it lives by the creed of “Do No Evil” have, in fact, committed a range of acts that, if not overtly evil, were surely not deemed to be good?

Why didn’t the “Do No Evil” bumper-sticker prevent Google from straying from the path of righteousness?

Or maybe the better question is this: what is the value of trumpeting a slogan of something like “Do No Evil?”

Let’s take a look at a recent news story from the Wall Street Journal: “Google Inc. reached a long-awaited $500 million legal settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to avoid prosecution on charges that it knowingly accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal ads from Canadian online pharmacies,” the article says.

“The ads resulted in the unlawful importation of prescription drugs, including controlled substances, into the U.S., potentially placing consumers at risk, the Justice Department said.”

Hey—we’ve all got feet of clay. And by pointing out Google’s most-recent scrape with the law, I’m surely not saying Google is evil or does evil, or anything remotely close to that. In fact, I think Google’s a great company.

I just think it has a remarkably dumb slogan. One that serves little or no purpose. One that is making Google look silly. One that is also making it look hypocritical or even cynical.

Thinking about this $500 million settlement, I have to wonder: where was the “Do No Evil” ethos? Why didn’t that bromide prevent the company from getting into some seriously deep legal trouble that could have been far, far worse? Again, from the Wall Street Journal article:

“The Justice Department said the forfeiture was one of the largest ever made by a company in the U.S. It represented the money illicitly earned by Google as a result of Canadian pharmacy ads, as well as money earned by the Canadian pharmacies themselves from their sales to U.S. consumers.

“The criminal probe was one of the most serious faced by Google and had the potential to touch executives. If Google had been prosecuted by the government for knowingly endangering U.S. consumers, it could have tainted the company's famous credo of ‘Do No Evil.’ ”

I’ve got to disagree with that last sentence:

It’s lunacy to suggest that Google was not tainted by its own actions that led to the criminal probe, and by its willing participation in the settlement.

As for that settlement, the $500 million is almost irrelevant to Google—but what is terribly relevant to the company and its wide range of interests is the highly public spectacle of Google admitting it did some things that, if not evil, were sure as heck a lot closer to evil than they were to sweet and pure.

For 100 years, IBM has created fantastic new products, new businesses, new customer value, new ways for it and its customers to engage with the world, and superb value for investors—and IBM has somehow managed to achieve all of that across 10 decades without ever feeling compelled to preach to the world that it could do so without resorting to evil.

Since Google first burst upon the world’s consciousness just 13 years ago with its remarkable search-engine technology, it has had an extraordinary impact on how hundreds of millions (billions?) of people live, work, play, plan, communicate, and interact.

Even if the company were to put everything on hold from today forward and never again introduce a new product or service or feature, it would be remembered for all time as a stunningly successful, disruptive, and reality-shaping force in our world.

But if the exquisite grand piano that is Google has one flawed key delivering one profoundly tinny note, it’s that bumper-sticker bromide that I’ve always regarded as something so vacuous that only Chance the gardnener from the movie “Being There” could have come up with it.

One more excerpt from the Wall Street Journal shows that “Do No Evil” was ignored by not just one bad-apple employee for a few hours, but instead was broadly trampled by multiple people within the company over the course of several years:

“Google said it banned advertising of prescription drugs "some time ago." However, it said that "it's obvious with hindsight that we shouldn't have allowed these ads on Google in the first place."

The settlement had been expected after Google disclosed earlier that it was setting aside $500 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department.

The Wall Street Journal revealed the focus of the probe in May. It also documented repeated efforts by U.S. state pharmacy regulators and independent researchers to warn Google that it was potentially facilitating illegal online activity.

On Wednesday, the government said Google was aware it was violating U.S. law since at least 2003. However, it "continued to allow Canadian pharmacy advertisers to target consumers in the U.S.," the Justice Department said.” (End of excerpt.)

As the saying around the National Football League goes, “You are what your record says you are.”

Google is a great company with a great future but a bad slogan. It’s time for Google to leave its teenage toys behind and fully join the world of grownups, in which words still mean a lot but actions and practical commitments mean much more.